minstrel: Wire Harpers Unite! We have nothing to lose but our nails!

[Heather Rose Jones]

At 8:49 AM -0800 11/30/01, Joan Garner wrote:
>Any other wire types out there?  Periodically I begin
>to despair (like today, when I'm about to go drop
>another $50 at the manicurists)and give up and just
>switch to nylon.  My own nails do not grow (yes I've
>tried every helpful hint known to mankind) so I spend
>a modest fortune keep silk fakes on.


One of my harps is wire-strung, but since I have naturally thin, 
flakey nails, I don't even bother trying to grow them.  You do what 
you can with what you've got.


>Has anyone out there done much with using harp to
>accompany storytelling?  I have a wonderful tape
>called "Harper in the Hall" -- available from Sylvia
>Woods (www.harpcenter.com).  It's two sisters, I
>believe named Zaerr.  One recites the story (Pearl,
>Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, etc.) and the other
>accompanies on harp.

Linda Marie Zaerr and Laura Zaerr -- I saw them in performance at 
this past Kalamazoo medieval conference.  They put a lot of acting 
into the recitation, too, which can help in following the Middle 
English.

Since we're doing intros, I've been writing and performing in the SCA 
for nearly the last quarter century.  I've been mostly coasting on 
momentum in the last few years since my dissertation doesn't leave 
much room for other projects, but recently my brothers and I have 
been making noises about working up some material together, both 
period material and our own compositions.  It's interesting that so 
many of the people posting right now seem to be more in the 
"professional musician" camp.  I have to confess that one of my 
mantras is: Music is far too important to be left only to 
professionals. :)

Tangwystyl
-- 
*****
Heather Rose Jones
hrjones at socrates.berkeley.edu
*****